The Designer’s Guide to Poster Printing

Designing a poster might seem like a simple task, but there are a lot of things to consider before creating a poster. First, it’s essential to choose an effective layout that will grab attention and communicate the message clearly. The colours and images you use should be eye-catching and cohesive with the overall design. Once the design is complete, it’s time to choose a printing method. Offset printing is typically used for large runs of posters, while digital printing is more suitable for shorter runs. It’s also essential to select the right paper stock – thicker papers are more durable and expensive. Keep these tips in mind and you’ll be able to produce high-quality posters that get noticed.

1- Start by selecting colour mode and size

Designing anything can be difficult, especially if you’re starting from scratch. That’s why it’s always a good idea to have some sort of plan or draft before you start working on your artwork. If you’re not sure what you want your design to look like, try doing some sketches or outlines. This will help you figure out what elements you want to include in your plan, and how they should be arranged. Once you have a general idea of what you want your design to look like, you can start working on it in Adobe Illustrator or another design program. Planning out your design will save you a lot of time and frustration in the long run.

Start by deciding what type of output you need to show your poster. Usually, if it is going to be printed it needs to be in CMYK colour mode but if you are printing by yourself on decent with lots of colours, RGB would be the best option because it has a large colour gamut than the 4-colour CMYK.

RGB mode is the best choice when it comes to displaying your posters online. Also, when you are designing a poster in RGB mode, you have more control over the colours. You can make sure that all the colours are as vibrant as possible. Once you have designed your poster in RGB, you can then convert it to CMYK if you need to print it out. CMYK is a less vibrant colour mode, but it is important when you want your posters to be printed.

2- Use vector graphics

Vector vs Raster Graphics

If you’re starting a design project, you might be wondering whether to use vector or raster graphics. Here’s a brief explanation of the differences between these two types of graphics:

Vector graphics are made up of lines and curves, so they can be scaled up or down without losing any quality. Raster graphics, on the other hand, are made up of pixels, so they can start to look blurry if you try to make them too large.

Vector graphics are also easier to edit than raster graphics – you can move individual elements around without affecting the rest of the image. Raster graphics can be more difficult to edit since each pixel is its own colour and you can’t move them around without affecting the rest of the image.

So, what’s the best choice for your project? If you need an image that can be scaled up or down without losing quality, the vector is the way to go. If you need an image that can be easily edited, the vector is also a good choice. But if you’re working with photos or other complex images, raster is probably your best bet.

3-Work with the right colour codes

Before you start creating a new file on Illustrator, Corel Draw, or any vector-based app, consider the output of the poster. Is it going to be a printed poster, or is it going to be published digitally? You may need to convert the colours from RGB to CMYK before printing, which will result in some changes in the shade. For instance, some vibrant sky colours on RGB would become violet colours on CMYK, and the difference will be much more visible when you print out the artwork, mainly if the printer uses only four colours (CMYK). Besides screen modes, using Pantone colours will give you more control and consistency in your poster production process, especially when you get your posters printed in large quantities. The primary Pantone colours on printing are Pantone Solid Coated and Uncoated Colours. Try to use these colours according to the paper that your clients need. Solid-coated colours usually are used when the paper has a gloss or semi-gloss finish. Solid uncoated colours are for the matt and rough finish papers. Adobe has ended up with the availability of the original Pantone Coated and Uncoated colours. However, you can still find the CMYK-integrated Pantone colours under the Colour Book. The only remaining colour books after November 2022 would be PANTONE+ CMYK Coated, PANTONE+ CMYK Uncoated and PANTONE+ Metallic Coated.

The appearance of black colour in printing

Another important thing about colour is the appearance of black on the final artwork. In print, rich black is the mix of Black(K-Key) with one of CMY colours or all and true black is only 100% Key. Depending on the paper finish you may need to consider which black to use on your artwork.

4- Design style and composition

Start designing by implementing the golden ratio, colour theory and composition. You can achieve an attractive design by implementing the rules below:

Use Golden Ratio

You can start your design by implementing the rule of thirds or the Fibonacci sequence. Both are useful for achieving a perfect composition in your artwork that will appeal to the observer’s eye. The Fibonacci sequence is the most helpful method, in which you can divide the artboard into arrangements whose ratio has to be always 1.618, as shown below. This method is also used by famous painters and artists, such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael, and Le Corbusier, the brutalist architect of modern times, who also used this technique.

Choosing the correct typeface – Typography

One of the most critical elements of your poster design is the style of the fonts you use. Depending on the subject you use to create your poster, you can incorporate a font family from the vast library of fonts. The key to choosing a typeface is your art style; pop art, art deco, or any other art movement. For instance, if it is a Russian Constructivism Art as style, your typography style can be bold sans-serif fonts that are in square forms.

It’s up to you whether you want to guide yourself by the art styles or you prefer your way of designing. Helvetica, Gothic, Bodoni, Gill Sans, Futura, Impact and similar sans-serif fonts are the most used font families when designing posters.

Composition

There are many principles to achieving a perfect layout when designing your artwork. Before you start to develop your actual subject, you have to consider at least five principles below:

1- Balance: this helps you evenly distribute the objects or elements, creating a perfect balance for the eye. An ideal balance is a symmetry; sometimes, you want to push the boundaries by creating asymmetric designs.

2- Hierarchy: helps you create a design with an order of the elements designed to navigate the eye from the most impactful component to less impactful one. Or that can also be named Visual hierarchy.

3- Direction: you can prepare a reading layout such as directions “Z”, “L”, and “Y” letters and distribute the design elements according to the selected directions to navigate the viewer.

4- Negative Space: you will need a blank space or background to give the design elements some space and make them stand out. Contrasting the objects against the background colour would help your details stand out. You can also combine the main parts to create a whole design with the help of negative space.

5- Repetition and Scale: repetition connects the elements and helps add consistency when used with different scales.

5- Exporting the artwork

Еxporting your finished design for print is the last step before your poster becomes a reality. Posters that need to be printed in large quantities must be compatible with the print company’s artwork guidelines you are using. Most of them accept the artworks as PDF files with bleeds. Unless they ask for that, you don’t have to put the trim marks, colour bars, etc. Make sure you don’t lose some vibrant colours when shifting your design from RGB to CMYK, and most importantly, convert all fonts to outlines. Save the file as PDF/X-1a:2001, the best standard file type your print company will need. Another way of producing posters is printing at home with your printer. Most design applications like Illustrator (anchor link to adobe) have printing options on their own. Using a high-quality printer such as Epson SureColor (add blog post link), you don’t have to worry about the file types that much. But if you want to print it through Acrobat DC, you can save the file as PDF [High-Quality Print] version, even in RGB colour mode. Do not forget to add the trim marks.

Conclusion

The above instructions are the basics of a poster design and production process on your own. Creating a poster digitally will always be the same process, and the printing process might differ based on your skills. Another printing option which might be costly is screen printing. You can get your screen printing kit and machine, but alternatives, such as hiring a screen printing workshop and printing your posters, are always available. That way, you can organise your printing quantities and costs based on the hourly use of the workshop. It also requires you to supply expensive papers, especially archival printing papers. But the result will be original hand-printed posters which you can sell for a high price.

This article might be useful if you are looking for The Best Poster Printers.

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Cover image by Tartila